Weeding Through

Piet Oudolf is an influential Dutch garden designer, nurseryman and author who is mostly known for The High Line and Battery Park in New York, and Lurie Garden in Chicago. He is a leading figure of the New Perennial movement, using bold drifts of herbaceous perennials and grasses which are chosen as much for their structure as for their color. Among plant people, Oudolf is a rock star for his eco-meets-high-design style and unconventional ideas. His gardens can be described by their drifts of tall perennial varieties and more naturalized plant choices which create blocks of color and texture that weave the eye throughout the garden.

Oudolf is fascinated by the beauty of plants that serve as tools to express himself while designing landscape and gardens. He feels they should be beautiful, reliable and not troublesome, and he prefers to let things go their own way, explaining that a garden should be monitored and maintained but also have a balance between control and no control. His romantic, nostalgic, organic, spontaneous yet never wild signature look has won fans around the word over the last 30 years. Oudolf lives with his wife in a small village in the Netherlands, and both his public and private commissioned gardens can be seen in Rotterdam, Barcelona and Nantucket, in addition to New York and Chicago. He often works in great sweeps- never manicured English borders- and admires the beauty of plants as they decay. If you’ve ever walked through an Oudolf garden, it becomes clear his inspiration comes by way of nature and art. Monet would have been inspired too.  www.oudolf.com